A Rat In The Hen House ...

Hannah stirred long before dawn, looked around and declared softly, "This is going to be one great day!" Then smiling coyly she continued, "And I'm ready to do whatever I have to do to make it even better." With that she moved closer to Lucky and snuggled up to him.

After a friendly little nudge she said, "I love it when you herald the dawn by crowing loudly." Pointing at the rooftop she asked, "Why don't you go up there and crow this morning?" Looking down at Hannah he asked, "Are you talking to me?"

Giggling, she said, "Yes silly. I want you to crow for me this morning." Before he could respond, Jenny asked, "Why should he crow for you? What about me? Am I just a nobody around here?"

"Now, now girls. It is still cold outside, why don't we just go back to bed?"
"I don't want to sleep Lucky. I want you to crow for me."
"Try to understand Hannah, roosters don't crow around here at this time of the year."
"And, why not?"
"Because the houses are made to protect people from the cold."
"What does that have to do with you crowing for me?"
"Well, only a crazy rooster would crow his heart out when no one could hear him."
"But I could hear you Lucky and I want you to crow for me. Will you? Please?"

In a soft squeaky voice Jenny teased, "Will you? Please? Will you crow for me Lucky?"

"Knock it off Jenny! I'll crow for both of you if you promise to go back to bed at least until the sun comes up." Stretching out both wings he asked, "Do we have a deal girls?"

"I'm ready," said Jenny. "Just stay close to me and I'll stay in bed until the sun comes up tomorrow morning."

But Hannah said, "I can't sleep now Lucky. Spring is in the air. I could smell it."
"What do you mean, spring is in the air? I could still remember seeing that jolly old Santa Claus and his reindeers on the rooftop. That was only a few nights ago."

"That was a few weeks ago my fine feathered friend. Now, spring is in the air and spring is my favorite time of the year." Opening his eyes wide Lucky asked, "And why, may I ask, is spring your favorite time of the year?" Blushing Hannah said, "Because spring is the time when we have babies. Ducks have cuddly ducklings. Deer have wobbly fawns and rabbits have cute little bunnies."

"Babies!" shrieked Jenny. "Is that all you could think of?"
"Who in their right mind would want to have babies and spend the nice warm summer months looking after them? Smarten up Hannah dear. We are going to spend the summer months basking in the sun."

"You can do that if you want Jenny but I'm going to have lots of fluffy little babies just like my mummy did and I want each of them to look just like Lucky."
"Oh. I get it. You want to have Lucky all to yourself this summer. Well, be my guest."

"Lucky, will you crow for me now?" Raising both wings he said, "Oh, man. Not the crowing thing again! I just told you that respectable roosters don't crow in the winter." Leaning on him Hannah pleaded, "One little crow Lucky. Just for me. Please?"

"Okay! Okay! But you must promise me, no more crowing after this one." Raising her right wing Hannah said, "I promise! No more crowing after this one. But you must to do it right. You must climb as high as you could and crow as loud as you possibly could."

With that Lucky climbed to the roof of the barn and inched his way to the highest point. Meanwhile, down below, Hannah was bursting with pride as she watched Lucky getting ready to crow. Jenny muttered, "Crazy rooster! He could fall from up there and break his neck." Lucky took a deep breath, filled his lungs with the cool fresh air and let it all out. Then he took another deep breath, flapped his wings and crowed but only a faint sound came out.

A little embarrassed, he looked down at the girls. Jenny shook her head and waved her left wing saying, "He is just no good at crowing. I'm going back to bed." But Hannah put a wing by her ear and said, "Try again Lucky. I can't hear you." Lucky smiled, took another deep breath of the cool fresh air, flapped his wings and crowed as loud as ever.

Before the sound of his triumphant crowing ceased, a hound bayed and a shot rang out. Hannah watched in disbelief as Lucky fell off the roof and landed, head first on a pile of hay. Panic-stricken, she put both wings over her head and started running towards Lucky. She ran straight into the doorpost and passed out on the floor.

Jenny also heard Lucky's crowing and the hound baying and the terrifying gunshot. She too headed outside and had to jump over Hannah to avoid hitting her. She scurried back and helped Hannah to her feet.

Jenny quickly peeked outside to see if the hound was coming their way. She heard it baying way across the field and gave the all clear to Hannah with a wave of her wing. Cautiously, they made their way to where Lucky fell.

He was lying face down on the hay when they arrived. Hannah covered her head with one wing and cried, "This is all my fault. It would not have happened if I did not insist on him crowing for me this morning. What will I do without him?" Waving her wings Jenny snapped, "Not now Hannah. This is not the time to cry. Let's see if there is anything we could do for him."

Together, they gently turned Lucky over and laid him on his back. His head fell to one side, his eyes were shut tight and his feet pointed towards the sky. Jenny shook her head and said, "This does not look good!" Hannah leaned quietly on her and asked, "Is now the time to cry?" Wiping her eyes, Jenny hugged her and said, "Yes Hannah dear. I guess it is."

While they were both crying, Lucky sat up, looked down at his chest and said, "No blood! How come there is no blood?" Both girls heard him and Jenny casually said, "There he goes again! Complaining about something." Then, overtaken by surprise, she stared deeply into Hannah's eyes and asked, "Who was that?"

Still hugging each other, they looked at Lucky and saw him pass his wings over his chest, then over his head and legs. Oblivious of their presence he declared, "I'm alive! I'm alive! The shot must have missed me. I'm alive and I'll never crow again!"

Happy that he was alive, both girls jumped on him and they tumbled off the pile of hay. Dusting off himself, Lucky asked, "Are you two trying to kill me?" They looked at each other, laughed and jumped on him again. They rolled over and over before Hannah said, "Thank God you're alive. I'll never ask you to crow for me again." Jenny smiled and said, "He did such a great job. I think he should do it again tomorrow morning."

"Thanks but no thanks! No more crowing for this handsome young rooster." As they walked slowly back to the barn they saw Norm filling their food trough. "Great!" said Hannah, "I'm hungry. After we eat I want the two of you to help me build a nest." Shaking her head Jenny said, "I can't believe you girl. He almost got himself killed and all you could think about is building a nest!"

Coming to Hannah's rescue, Lucky said, "Don't be so hard on her Jenny. It was not her fault and I think she should have many babies - especially because she wants them to look like me." They all laughed and headed for the food trough.

A few days later, Hannah called excitedly, "Lucky! Lucky! Come quickly. I want you to see my first adorable egg." Jenny scoffed and asked, "What's so adorable about your egg Hannah? All eggs look the same to me." Waving her wings Hannah said, "Shush Jenny! You're just jealous!"

"I'm not jealous Hannah. Look, I laid an egg too but it is not adorable. It is just an egg." Visibly annoyed, Hannah said, "Well, yours may not be adorable but mine is! And, I want Lucky to be the first to see it."

Raising both wings in the air Lucky said, "Now, now girls, no need to squabble like that. I'm coming over right now to see both eggs." First he looked at Hannah's egg and said, "That's some egg kiddo. It is adorable!" Then he looked at Jenny's egg and said, "Not bad, not bad at all! Yours is adorable too!"

The next morning they each laid another egg and Hannah shouted, "Come down here Lucky. I want you to see adorable egg number two!" The noise awakened Fred who was sleeping lazily in the straw under the hen house. He twitched his nose, sniffed the air and asked, "Am I dreaming or did I just hear someone say breakfast? I mean, egg?" Then Hannah shouted again, "Come on Lucky. Egg number two is just as adorable as egg number one!"

Fred opened his eyes as big as possible and said, "Hannah has two eggs and Jenny has two eggs." Then, raising one fat little foot in the air he said, "That means I could have four eggs today! Unbelievable!" He crawled through an opening in the floor and looked at Hannah and Jenny sitting on their nests.

"Just my luck", he muttered. "I waited all winter for these eggs and now those lazy hens are sitting on them." Walking around in a circle with his hands behind his back he asked, "What are they doing? Why don't they go for a walk or something?" Exhausted, he fell to the ground on rolled to one side to keep an eye on the eggs.

Lucky finally came down walking like an inspector on parade; the top of his head a brilliant red. First he stopped by Hannah and inspected her eggs then he stopped by Jenny and inspected her eggs too. "Great job girls. Pretty soon we'll have lots of fluffy little baby chicks all over this hen house. I could hardly wait!"

Fred grinned at them saying, "Over my dead body! I'm going to have these eggs for breakfast today." Lucky climbed proudly up to the roof top, filled his lungs with cool fresh air, flapped his wings and crowed, cock-a-doodle-doo. He flapped his wings again and crowed a second time before returning to the hen house. Looking at him Hannah declared, "That's the best sound in the whole wide world!"

When the sun came up, Norm filled the trough with food and left quickly. Lucky marched in front of the girls and announced proudly, "Ladies, breakfast is served. Will you join me?" Hannah and Jenny jumped out of their nests to follow Lucky. Quietly, Hannah turned to look at her adorable eggs and said softly, "Don't be afraid, your mummy will be back as soon as possible."

Growing impatient Fred said, "Please. Just go and have your breakfast so I could have mine too." Lucky led the girls to the food trough and waited for them to start eating. Meanwhile, Fred climbed into Hannah's nest and licked both eggs. He then scurried over to Jenny's nest and licked her eggs too. Using his large front teeth he made a hole in one egg and drank it as fast as he could. He did the same with the second one before dashing back to Hannah's nest.

As he opened his mouth to start on the first egg he felt Lucky's large beak sink into his back. "Ouch!" he cried. "That hurts." Lucky then kicked Fred out of the nest. He fell to the floor where Hannah and Jenny were waiting for him. Together, they gave him a beating that he would never forget. Jenny then hugged Hannah and said softly, "I'm so sorry he got your eggs while we were eating. I wish he had mine instead."

Looking down Lucky said, "Good news girls, we got here just in time. Fred did not have a chance to eat Hannah's eggs." As they hugged and jumped around Lucky saw the damage in Jenny's nest. He joined the girls quietly, leaned on Jenny and said, "I'm so sorry." Shaking her head she asked, "Sorry for what? Why are you sorry?" Then she looked up to her nest and saw pieces of eggshell stuck to the side of her nest. "He got mine, didn't he?"

"I'm afraid he did. He got both of them. I'm sorry." Hannah, with tears in her eyes, hugged Jenny and said, "You can have one of my adorable eggs." Trying to hold back her tears, Jenny said, "No. No. You keep your eggs. First, we have to find a way to keep that fat little rat out of our nests and then I'll lay a few more eggs."

They walked back and forth thinking about the problem. Then Lucky opened his eyes as wide as saucers and said, "I've got a plan! We'll move Jenny's nest next to Hannah's so the two of you could keep watch on each other's nest." Jenny looked up to the left then to the right, "That will only solve the problem while we are here but what about when we can't be here?"

Hannah spotted Fred inching his way back to her nest. She gave chase but he disappeared between two loose floorboards. Hannah peeked in and saw his fat little tail. She grabbed it with her beak and bit off the end. "Serves you right, you naughty little imp," she yelled. "Look at what you did," cried Fred.

Returning to the others Hannah said, "We have to work fast or that rascal will eat my adorable eggs too." With that, the three of them grabbed Jenny's empty nest and dragged it across to Hannah's nest. When it was in place Jenny said, "One of us will always have to stay here and stand guard or Fred will have another feast at our expense."

Flapping his wings, Lucky said, "I like that idea. No. I love that idea. First, I'll take Hannah to breakfast while Jenny watch the nests then I'll take Jenny to breakfast while Hannah watch the nests. Sounds like a plan to me!" But Jenny was not impressed, "Not so fast lover boy. What about if Hannah and I go for breakfast together while you watch the nests. After all, it will be easier for you to scare off Fred."

"But, but that means that I will have to eat all by myself." Leaning towards Hannah, Jenny offered, "Why don't you take Fred to breakfast with you sometimes? At any rate, eating alone for a few weeks is a small price to pay for a healthy brood of chicks." Smiling at the thought of being a proud dad, Lucky said, "Agreed! We have a deal! I'll watch the nests and eat alone while you girls make the babies."

Very early the next morning Fred sat at a safe distance watching the nests. He could hardly wait for Norm to fill the trough with food but feeding time passed by and Norm did not show up. Fred walked back and forth saying, "Come on! What's keeping that lazy Norm this morning?" Not long after that, Kimmy came out and filled the trough. "Finally!" muttered Fred.

Kimmy called out in a friendly voice, "Come on down my little ones. My brother is sick this morning but I'm here with food for you. Come on down." Hannah and Jenny jumped down and headed towards Kimmy. Without realizing that Lucky was not with them as usual, Fred started creeping up to the nests. Lucky eyed him cautiously and pounced on him as soon as he got close enough. "Just where do you think you are going?" he asked.

Lucky placed his foot on Fred's fat little neck. Fred gasped and cautiously eyed the large claw glittering over his head. "This is definitely not what I had in mind," he mumbled. The girls heard the ruckus and came running. Fred wiggled out from under Lucky's foot and fell to the floor just as the girls arrived.

Hannah grabbed him by the tail and flung him across the room. He smashed into an old tin can and wobbled as he tried to stand up. Jenny took off after him but he jumped into a hole and disappeared before she could catch him. "That was a close call," sighed Hannah. "We must be vigilant or Fred will destroy our plans to have fluffy baby chicks this summer."

In spite of the on-going threat, Hannah and Jenny laid one egg every morning for almost two weeks before they were ready to hatch them. Lucky walked about in solemn parade while the girls sat on their eggs. The "waiting period" as Lucky called it, felt like months instead of weeks and together they had to fend off Fred on numerous occasions.